Fraud Was Part of Investigation Into Municipal-Bond Bid Rigging

A former Bank of America Corp. executive on Monday pleaded guilty of being part of a fraud conspiracy that allegedly fixed prices in the municipal bond market, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Phillip D. Murphy, the former managing director of Bank of America's municipal derivatives products desk from 1998 to 2002, pleaded guilty of being part of the conspiracy with employees of CDR Financial Products, a broker of municipal finance contracts, and others. The fraud, part of prosecutors' yearslong investigation...